296 The Roseate Spoonbill 



Museum which were secured on Marquesas Key, Florida, on January u, 

 1883. Unquestionably, therefore, the birds begin to nest as early as 

 January. Dates may be later, as with the Cuthbert rooker}' birds' second 

 layings, or owing to the variation in nesting-time that sometimes occurs 

 among birds breeding in warm climates, where the necessity for regularity 

 is not so urgent as it is further north, where the warm season is shorter. 



On April 17, 1910, I found a colony of about two hundred pairs of 

 Roseate Spoonbills on Pajaro Island, in Tamiahua Lagoon, on the eastern 

 coast of Mexico, south of Tampico. Most of their nests contained well- 

 grown young at least a month old, and probably older. 

 The Young Allowing a month for hatching, it is evident that these 

 birds began to lay about the middle of February. 



Spoonbills are covered shortly after birth with a snowy white down, 

 through which one may see enough of their pink skin to give them a 

 reddish appearance ;" the feathers themselves, however, are not colored. 

 While they are in the nest this plumage, "natal down," as it is called, is 

 followed by what is known as the "Juvenal plumage," in which they leave 

 the nest. In general appearance young Spoonbills then strongly resemble 

 their parents, but the head and throat are thinly covered with white 

 feathers, and the rusty marks at the sides of the breast and at the end of 

 the tail of the adult have become pink. 



In this Mexican colony four was the usual number of young. They 

 were well-behaved youngsters, and in the absence of their parents rested 

 peacefully in their homes, or occasionally ventured on thrilling excursions 

 of a few feet to the adjoining limbs. But when their parents returned 

 they were all attention and on the alert for food. On such occasions they 

 usually stood in a row on the edge of the nest facing the old birds, and 

 in a most comical manner swung the head and neck up and down. I 

 have seen balanced mechanical toys which would make almost exactly the 

 same motion. The toys, however, were silent, while the little Spoonbills 

 all joined in a chorus of tremulous, trilling whistles, which grew louder 

 and more rapid as the parent approached. 



What their parents brought them I could not see, nor, for that matter, 

 could they. But, with a confidence born of experience, the bird that had 

 the first opportunity pushed its bill and head far down into its parent's 

 mouth to get whatever was there. This singular operation sometimes 

 lasted as long as ten seconds, and it was terminated only by the parent 

 which, much against the will of its offspring, disengaged itself; then after 

 a short rest a second youngster was fed, and thus in due time the whole 

 family was satisfied. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Roseate Spoonbill belongs to the Order Herodiones and Family Plata- 

 leidae ; and its scientific name is Ajaia ajaja. It ranges throughout South America 

 and formerly inhabited the whole northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and the 

 lower Mississippi Valley, but now exists only in southern Florida. 



NOTR Additional copies of this and other Educational Leaflet-; mav b obtained for 5 cents each 

 from the National Association of Audubon Societies, No. 1974 Broadway, New York City. 



